The Birth of a Monster
by Aga Duha
Summary: Prince Humperdinck was born the product of a miracle-gone-wrong. His royal parents try their best to save him from his evil fate but they are pushed away... Even a miracle man cannot save everyone...


Okay, this was written for my english class so it's a little different than I usually write.  
  
In the forward proceeding Buttercup's Baby in the twenty-fifth anniersary addition of the novel (Yes, the novel. Not the movie, I only put my story in this genre because there was Princess Bride catagory in 'Books') it mentions how the King and Queen went to Max for help with their child who was born a monster. These are my thoughts on how it happened...  
  
'' * ''  
  
The queen lay recovering on her velvet four-poster bed. Her rich brown locks were damp with sweat. Her cheeks were flushed and her face held a small, satisfied smile. She had given birth not a quarter-hour before.  
  
"Where is my child?" She demanded. "Bring him to me."  
  
The nurse-maids scurried to obey. The child had been cleaned and nappied while the queen mended and the nurse brought him straight away... seeming almost glad to be rid of him, in fact.  
  
The child was gently set into Queen Riannin's arms, his weight shifting her slightly. She stared down, appalled. Yes, he was physically perfect in every way - handsome too - but his eyes held a certain... 'gleam' to them that was just not normal. They had an evilness to them that Queen Riannin had not noticed in any other child's countenance. They glittered at her, frightening her with their intensity.  
  
She screamed, bringing the doctors and her husband - the King of Florin - running.  
  
She screamed again, and a laugh seeped from the child. Not the high tinkling laugh of a normal babe, but a throaty, forbidding tone. He laughed again, as if foreshadowing an unfortunate happening.  
  
The surveyors gasped, the queen had somehow given birth to a monster. A monster that would one day assume the throne of Florin...  
  
'' * ''  
  
Flavian, King of Florin, knocked loudly on the Miracle Man's hovel door. Three days after the birth of the child the queen finally felt well enough to venture down onto the palace grounds. The Miracle Man had refused a set of rooms in the main building and instead lived with his witch in a secluded corner of the palace boundaries.  
  
"Whadiia want?" Came the annoyed cry of the Miracle Man. "Today's my day off if you hadn't realized!"  
  
"It is the King!" The King called in an impressive tone. "Let us in at once!"  
  
For a moment there was silence and then the sound of many locks being undone reached the six royal ears (as the queen and the monster-child were there as well, naturally).  
  
The small door finally swung open, revealing a crumpled, tiny, 'ancient' man. "Yes, and I don't care if you are the King of the Universe. It is 'my day off'." He paused. "Goodbye."  
  
He began to close the door, but the king stopped him suddenly by swinging his hand quite harshly until it connected with the wood of the door. This rather startled the Miracle Man and he lost his grip, causing the door to fly open and hit the magical items hidden behind.  
  
The man looked nervously at the door. "Heh heh, on the other hand, it looks as if it's rather urgent... Come in! Come in!"  
  
Max, as the man's name was - well, his name was truly Floyd, but Miracle Max sounded so much more miraculous than Miracle 'Floyd' - ushered the couple in, glancing around to be sure his witch - who was truly not a witch, but his wife - had successfully moved from the room. It would not be well to have the king see her sitting normally at the kitchen table, now would it?  
  
"Now," He turned back to the rulers, "what seems to be the problem? Did that Miracle Pill work for you Highness?" He nodded at the queen. Last time the two had been in his hovel was nine months ago. The monarchs had demanded an heir as their first child. No use in having many children when you could be sure of a boy-child right off.  
  
"Well, no, not quite... That's why we're here you see." Queen Riannin replied softly, still quite shaken up by the birthing incident. The prince was sleeping quite silently in her arms, swathed in rich colored blankets embroidered with Florin's coat of arms. His sleep, however, did not add any innocence to his aura. He looked to be plotting, even in slumber.  
  
"Then what happened!? You wouldn't be here if it was not for a mistake in the child! No one bothers to make the trip down here to congratulate me on a job well done, now do they?" Max glanced at the bundle, then back at the monarchs accusingly. "You 'did' wait the full week before taking the pill did you not? I warned you of the consequences otherwise." He raised his voice, sure now that the two had not waited the mandatory seven days. "I told you it would not be safe until then, I did!"  
  
The couple shifted guiltily. 'They had waited 'three' days! It should have been done by then!' The king thought, defendingly. 'Yes, he had said a week, but any 'decent' Miracle Man's Magical Pill should have been done by then anyway.'  
  
Queen Riannin shook her head at her husband before holding out the monster- child to Max. "Is there anything thing you can do?" She asked pleadingly. "Anything at all."  
  
Max open his mouth to speak before thinking better of it. He sighed. "Give him here, I'll take a look."  
  
He took the child out of Queen Riannin's waiting arms and walked with it over to the large work table that stood in the corner of the room, unwrapping the bundle as he went.  
  
The Miracle Man set the prince onto the rough workbench he used for making Miracles. Undoing the last blanket took longer than any before it, he wished he did not have to see this child, this poor child, who was a product of a Miracle gone wrong.  
  
He knew at once he could do nothing for the child. There was no Miracle strong enough counter-act this curse. He told the monarchs so and they frowned, worriedly.  
  
"Can you not make us another Pill?" The king asked. "So that we could have another child to be heir?"  
  
"I cannot." Max replied, more seriously than ever before. "How shall I know you will not abuse it, as you did the last?"  
  
King Flavian's temper flared and then banked. His shoulders sagged and he looked older than ever before. "What are we to do with him then?" He inquired of Max. "And what shall the name of this monster be?"  
  
Max looked up from the child to stare at the young couple. "Raise him as the heir of Florin, treat him as any other child." He paused, thinking. "And his name shall be Prince Humperdinck..."  
  
'' * ''  
  
Did you like it? I almost didn't write it, as I was convinced that S. Morgenstern was real and Mr. Goldman only abridged it. Then I found an article in the Internet, so I wrote it anyway... If you have the time would you review? I'm not begging, only asking for some help with my writing! Thanks for reading!  
  
MysticWood 


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